CARE-WEARY

Casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you.
I Peter 5:7

Care as we are thinking of it right now has nothing to do with the kindness and service we render to someone in need. As we are looking at “care” here, we are the ones who are in need. Cares in the sense of our opening verse have to do with those things that are of real concern to us. We live in a “care-weary” world. Some folks are looking at divorce, financial problems, straying children, and often serious physical conditions. Many people care very deeply about our country, it's culture and condition. We care about the world our grandchildren may have to live in. We see policemen being gunned down, college students with little moral values in place, many folks in government who have proven to be pure evil in their dealings, athletes who won't stand for our national anthem, and other cares too many to mention.

Peter, when speaking of cares, doesn't speak in particulars because cares are very personal. What may be a care to may not be one for you. However on both parts, it's serious.

When Peter speaks of casting, he is speaking of throwing something away with no expectation of it's return. As children, we used to play catch. I loved that and could have spent hours doing it. I knew when I tossed a ball at a waiting friend, they would catch it and toss it back to me. We only tossed the ball with the speed needed to reach the other person. The anticipation was that my friend would toss the ball back to me and on and on it would go.

“Casting” is a stronger word. It indicates throwing something as far as you can in order to be rid of it with no anticipation of it coming back. This is the form of the word Peter is using so let's make some practical uses of CAST but in a spiritual sense.

C – Commit your burden to the Lord.

Do I consider that God is really in charge of my life? There are cares that come into our lives we don't understand and there seems no logic to it all. Whether we understand or not, it's a part of our relationship with God to give the situation over to Him for His working His will in it all. I don't know how many times I've gone before the Lord and simply said, “I don't understand what's going on, there is no logic to it but I give this over (commit) to You to work in it as You see fit.” You see that's not just playing catch with God, having my own expectations of return. I'm casting it on Him for Him to keep and work with in His way. That's a huge part of the trust we have in Him.

A - Ask for God's help in prayer.

Most of us aren't very good about asking for help. Maybe it's a pride thing or that we really don't want to bother anyone with a concern of ours. The sad thing is that this attitude carries over into our spiritual lives as well. I wonder how many times we have gone through the hardest of times, never even mentioning our concern to Jesus. Bottom line is that He cares much more about those things that bother us more than we can know. If I have a health concern, I want the best doctor I can find. When we have a problem, we want the most qualified person we can find to take care of that problem. Why wouldn't we give over our burdens to THE One Who has the power to do in our situations what we cannot do?

S - Search the Scriptures

When loaded with care, the unfortunate thing is that we don't like sitting down and reading a book...any book, let alone Scripture. And yet, the Bible is full of promises and solutions when we are loaded down with care. Psalm 119 is full of promises regarding God's Word and what it can do in our lives no matter our circumstances:

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path. (v 105)

Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee. (v 11)

In a time of care, the Psalms is a wonderful place to relax and soak up the promises of God.

T - Trust Him

Very often, a time of care is a time of testing as to what we really believe about God. Trust comes through relationship. This is why consistently growing in our relationship with God is so important. When we have done that, trusting His will comes easier because our trust runs deep in Him and His will in our lives. Proverbs 3 encourages us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart....”

So lets determine to be CASTERS when facing the cares of life. God s more about us in such times than we can ever fathom.

Father, we don't like the difficulties that fact us so often. May Your Spirit help us to grow in trust and love for You knowing You always have purpose in any events that come into our lives. Thank You for loving us and for caring so deeply for us. In Jesus' name....Amen